The Chinese government is blocking tens of thousands of Web sites, according to a report from Harvard's Berkman Center for the Internet and Society released earlier this week. Some are predictable and others are bizarre.

Consider: Accordions Worldwide, the Southwest Wisconsin Library System, Snowboarding World, and The Cult of the Rabid Petunias - ''dedicated to the worshipping of question marks and chrome-plated tuning forks in the Northeast'' - are among tens of thousands of Web sites blocked by the Chinese government, according to a report released earlier this week by the Berkman Center.

Major media outlets were often, but not always, rendered inaccessible to Internet surfers in China. CBS and ABC are blocked, but not NBC. The BBC is blocked. CNN was blocked and is now available again. The New York Times is blocked but not the Washington Post, although it had been. The Mount Washington...